Utah Valley University Ethics Bowl Team finished its year strong by placing fourth at the national 28th annual Association for Practical and Professional Ethics Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl in Cincinnati in February and by sweeping the Wasatch Regional Ethics Bowl last fall.
UVU’s team beat Yale, San Jose State, Maryland, and Costal Carolina and 36 others to reach its fourth place finish nationally, and Salt Lake Community College, Snow College, University of Utah, Utah State University, Weber State University, and Westminster College at the Wasatch regionals.
Led by their coach, Jeff Neilsen, UVU’s 2024 team included UVU students Hash Brown, Cellene Einai, Rowan Hadlock, Claire Montgomery, Alaina Sapp, and Timberlyn Shaw.
In a typical debate competition, participants are assigned one side of a real-life issue to defend. However, in ethics bowl competition students are assigned to discuss real-life situations full of moral dilemmas. These scenarios can range from business to major societal issues.
It is a learning experience that teaches students how to analyze information, think critically, consider different viewpoints, present convincing arguments, and respond quickly and strategically to the scenarios.
Participants do not debate for the sake of winning only but are incentivized to explore all sides of an argument and offer well-thought-out reasons for the positions they choose. The approach creates healthy dialogue, respect for both teams, and ethics in general.
Participants can even lose points for failing to treat their competitors with kindness. Because of the nature of the competition, contestants are encouraged to listen, understand, and provide each other with constructive feedback.
Timberlyn Shaw, a UVU philosophy student, is a second-generation competitor on the UVU Ethics Bowl team. Their father was a member of one of UVU’s first teams, so being on the same team comes with a lot of sentiment for her.
“A major part of being on the Ethics Bowl team is knowing your teammates and personal experiences regarding ethics,” said Shaw. “Through our discussions, we have just come to know each other very well, and we are able to use that to our advantage in competitions. We have one teammate who is well-versed in medicine, so whenever we have a medical case we know that we need their insight on it.”
Shaw went on to say, “You have to feel comfortable to speak with your team, and it is so important to have everyone’s opinions and beliefs, or else you might get one or two people dominating the conversation. This makes the opinion lose a lot of its nuance and makes us less successful in competitions because we aren’t able to look at the issue from all angles, so we really try to support each other and encourage everyone to share their thoughts.”
Over the past five years, UVU ‘s Ethics Bowl team has achieved incredible success, taking first-place at the Wasatch Regional Ethics Bowl competition four times and consistently ranking high at nationals. Many former UVU team members have stated that their experience on the Ethics Bowl team was one of the most impactful parts of their college experience, helping them to expand their overall knowledge and levels of personal growth.
